


Someone to Talk to

by jacquelee



Category: Original Work
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-04
Updated: 2015-12-04
Packaged: 2018-05-04 23:31:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 788
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5352455
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jacquelee/pseuds/jacquelee
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In the ruins of apocalyptic earth, a little girl finds a companion.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Someone to Talk to

**Author's Note:**

> Written for a challenge at [game of cards](http://gameofcards.livejournal.com). The prompts were "A stray cat appears on the doorstep" and this picture: 

Like every morning, Orange went to the water hole and filled her pot. When she came back to the shelter she called home, there was a surprise waiting for her there. A little kitten sat on her doorstep, or on the lid that served as doorstep to be more precise. Orange was pretty sure it was a kitten. 

She obviously had never seen one in real life, but she had seen pictures in her story books. She approached it carefully, completely bewildered by seeing another living being. There hadn't been anything living here since Ala had died. 

"Hi there." 

She stretched out her hand to the kitten, who came closer to sniff it and then rubbed its head against it. Orange laughed.

"What are you doing here? You're hungry? Come in, I will make us some food." 

Orange opened the lid and beckoned the kitten inside. It made a little sound and followed her. It stayed close by when Orange lit all the lamps and the stove. She put the pot on the stove fire to cook the water. 

Ala taught her how to do that. Uncooked water had bacteria in it and made you sick. Orange took down some cans from the shelves and looked at them. 

"How about tuna? You like that?" 

The kitten looked at her questioningly as if waiting for her to give it food. Orange wondered where it had come from and how it had survived before. There was nothing edible outside, only the canned food inside the shelters. Nothing cats could possibly eat. Maybe Ala had been right and there was other life here, maybe even people. 

Orange's mind drifted into the past. 

"You've got to go to the mountains, try to find other people." 

"Why?"

"Because I am old and I will die soon, and you will need someone to talk to, someone to share things with. Someone to teach you more." 

"You taught me everything I need to know. I can survive. I'm big enough. I don't need anyone."

Ala had looked at her for a long time. 

"We all need someone. And you are only four years old. Having to spend the rest of your life alone…" 

She did not finish the sentence. Orange hadn't understand back then. She had never been among other people. Ala had always been the only person she'd known, for as long as she could remember. She had taught her everything, from cooking to where to find water to shaving her head. 

The thought of other people was strange for Orange. She didn't dislike it as much as she couldn't even imagine it. But ever since Ala had died soon after that conversation she had been thinking about it. Not having anyone to talk to had been a new experience she hadn't been prepared for. She didn't like it. 

And now there was the kitten. Another living being. Something to talk to. She watched it gobble up the tuna in a few hungry bites and laughed again. 

"You were really hungry, weren't you? Well, let's see if we can't find you another one."

After she had opened the kitten another can, Orange made herself some canned vegetables with canned meat and sat down to eat. 

Over the next few days, she became accustomed to the kitten, who seemed to be more than happy to stay with her. She talked to it and even got some meows as answers back. She found that Ala had been right, it was better to have someone to talk to. 

And then the kitten was gone. Orange looked for it everywhere, but she couldn't find it. There was no sign of it. Where ever it had come from, it had returned there, as suddenly as it had appeared. 

After a few more days, Orange reached a decision. Standing on what had been a street before, between the ruins and in front of the water hole, she watched the sun rise over the ruins of the high buildings before her. 

Her ball, with which she played sometimes was lying in front of her. But she hadn't come here to play. She had come here to say goodbye. She went back to her shelter, picked up the bag of supplies she had packed before, looked around one more time and went away. 

Into the direction that was most likely where the kitten had gone, where Ala had always said the mountains were. Leaving the ruins behind her, Orange walked on into a new future to find her companion again and maybe even other people. 

She was a little frightened of that prospect, having been alone or with only Ala for her entire life. But her curiosity was stronger than her fear.


End file.
